


From the Dining Table

by Pigeonsplotinsecrecy



Series: MacGyver Create-A-Thon 2019 [3]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Break Up, Broken Heart, F/M, She'll be okay, macgyver create-a-thon, pining when it's already over, poor Riley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 19:34:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19409947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pigeonsplotinsecrecy/pseuds/Pigeonsplotinsecrecy
Summary: Riley ponders her relationship with Billy and tried to make peace with the anger and mostly sadness she feels after him cheating on her and breaking her heart. It hurts, but she knows she somehow has to move on.





	From the Dining Table

_“We haven’t spoke since you went away_

_Comfortable silence is so overrated_

_Why won’t you ever be the first one to break_

_Even my phone misses your call, by the way”_

* * *

It had a been nearly a week since Riley had broken up with Billy, and the ache in her heart had yet subside. It had dulled, no longer a stabbing pain in her chest. She had stopped crying mostly. She was still spending her evenings with too much wine and too little company.

As she drank, she wondered when things in their relationship had first turned sour because Billy’s affair had been a symptom, not the disease. Of course, that didn’t mean what he did was okay because it definitely wasn’t, but Riley couldn’t help but wonder about the indecipherable moment when everything had changed. How had they drifted apart so quickly when they had been doing so well? She was sure the drift had been more gradual than what her heartbroken eyes could see.

Riley suspected the main problem had been distance. Both of their jobs required them to travel a lot, especially Riley’s, making it hard for the young couple to ever spend quality time together. It had never been that serious, not weddings, and babies, and spending their whole lives together, but it was getting serious enough that cheating was a major violation. Riley could have forgiven the cheating even, but the cheating had just been the final clue that things weren’t working. Still, she missed him more than she thought she would. Riley hadn’t been that excited about having another person in her life in a long time. He made her feel important, loved, and giddy each time she got a text. Each morning, she’d read his good morning text like a kid opening a present. Many days, they’d be halfway around the world from one other, but that shouldn’t have been unsurmountable. It was earlier enough in their relationship that they had time to make it work and late enough that they should’ve had the desire to make it work regardless of the circumstances.

It wasn’t just geographical distance that came between them, though. For a long while, Billy had been distant. Perhaps, the distance had coincided with when Billy started the affair, but Riley didn’t think so. There were no signs that Billy’s eyes had been wandering. Riley could have just been a lovestruck fool, but now that she knew about it, the signs of the affair were obvious. Billy hiding his phone, for one. Or started calling her at odd times. She could vaguely guess when the affair had started, but the hazy distance was harder to pinpoint.

It wasn’t that Billy’s attention was somewhere else, not at first. It was more like there was a quiet between them that neither had bothered to fill. When they were together, they both had been afraid to bring up anything serious, anything that could cause a fight. Their time together was so precious that they wanted to have fun without worrying about the fun killing mechanics of their relationship. So, yes, Billy had been distant for a long while, and Riley wondered if she had been distant too without even noticing it. Maybe Billy had picked up on that and sought closeness elsewhere. That asshole. He didn’t even give her a chance to make things between them better.

The silence was a mistake. There were things that needed to be talked about in a relationship, so that affairs weren’t needed, and fights didn’t happen all the time. They needed to have conversations instead of just playing happy couple. Maybe Billy still would have cheated, but at least then, Riley wouldn’t feel like the whole mess was her fault. She couldn’t help but think that if she had reached out to Billy or hopped on a plane to see him more often, that they’d still be happily together. Possibly still in the comfortable détente of silence.

Her friends had told her that there was nothing she could have done, but the what-ifs didn’t disappear. They had been simmering in her head for days because she still loved him. Asshole or not, her heart was still soft and melty for Billy. Even though he had broken her heart, there was a hollow space where a person used to be. There were plenty of people around her, but there was a special kind of loneliness that she felt because of his fresh absence for her life. She was still grieving what they had and what they could have been.

Unlike many people, Billy knew who she actually was and what she did. She could call him, censoring the classified details as she gave him a SparkNotes version of her day after he told her about his. They had a shared sense of adventure, and he had that charming smile that could melt her heart on the coldest days, but where was that smile now that she was hurting so bad? She imagined him smiling at the other woman in the way he smiled at her, and it broke her heart a little more because in that moment, with a little wine in her system, she would have given anything to hear his voice and see that grin bloom on his face.

She longed for him to call her and make her giggle with silliness. But more importantly, he wanted him to call so they could talk things through, and if nothing else, she could get closure. She wasn’t going to take him back, but she wanted the chance to have him back if she wanted. She wanted him to grovel and remind her of the good times. She wanted him to beg in that sultry voice she loved so much. She wanted someone to fill the air waves when she got home to an empty apartment after work.

She wanted her phone to stop being so silent. “If only he would call,” she thought, “Maybe then I would answer, and maybe then we could finally talk about the things that never got said. Maybe then I won’t have to feel so lonely.” But her phone never got the call.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I wanted to show Riley a little love.


End file.
